Tag: onions

It’s back to school and here’s an easy recipe that will be a go to for you and your family. I love making this for my family because it’s quick, healthy and fills their bellies. When school starts back we all are in the grind of life, adjusting to a new school year schedule. There are footballs practices, ballet rehearsals, music recitals and a thousand other things we have to focus on, so let dinner be one thing, you pour Love into, but not lots of time. But hey it can taste like it. 😉

Note: A short cut here for this recipe is to precooked the potatoes the night before or use frozen potatoes. I prefer to precook fresh potatoes the night before, fresh ingredients really does make a difference. If you do, cook them until they are mostly tender and not mushy. They will cook later in the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

2 Tablespoons olive oil

4-5 Sweet Italian Turkey sausage links

10 medium red potatoes, cut in half

1 large yellow onion, sliced

3 bell peppers, any color, sliced into strips. I used what was in the fridge.

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 cup Low Sodium Vegetable Broth

1 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Sea salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Add the red potatoes to a pot of boiling water, cook until mostly tender, they will cook in the saucepan with the sausage and peppers later. Drain and set aside.

*If you are using precooked potatoes or frozen, skip this step above.

While the potatoes are cooking, Poke each sausage a few times with a paring knife or fork (this helps release steam as they cook).

In a large skillet with a lid, heat olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add sausages and brown gently and slowly. Cook for 3- 5 minutes, turning occasionally to gently brown on all sides. (They should not be fully cooked.) Once browned, remove sausages to a plate. Set aside.

Add vegetable broth, to deglaze the saucepan, scraping bottom of pan with a wooden spoon to release bits. Simmer the vegetable broth until reduced by half.

Add Italian seasoning. Stir well to combine. Add sausages and the potatoes. Add salt to taste and gently toss. Bring to a simmer then reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer until potatoes and peppers are soft and sausages are cooked.

Broccoli and Parmesan Cheese with a twist

This is a simple recipe, but it has a twist. Instead of using water to steam the broccoli you use vegetable broth. It gives the broccoli so much flavor. In a sauce pan add a bit of oil on heat the stove on medium heat . Toss in 2 cups of broccoli florets. Stir the florets around in the pan to help coat them with the oil. Add in a 1/3 cup of low sodium vegetable. Place the lid on top of the pan and allow to steam until the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and add parmesan cheese on top, place lid back onto the pan to help the cheese melt. Serve immediately. Enjoy

Here’s another recipe that may wow your Valentine’s Day date. 💕It’s so simple, easy, delicious and healthy. I love taking traditional recipes like a spring roll adding non traditional ingredients and allowing my guests to experience something in familiar in a new way. This will make appetizer, before dinner or add some wonderful cheeses, nuts,dried fruit and you got a beautifully unique anti pasti platter, pair it with your favorite wines and dinner is served. Psst… throw in some really good chocolates and this Valentine’s Day will be talked about for awhile. The truth is whatever you decide to do, just make sure you Set the Table with Love. NOTE: The pictures below show a wok fried version of this recipe, but I did give you an option to back them. Ingredients:1 tbsp olive oil 1/4 cup onions 1/2 cup red bell pepper1/2 cup sundried tomatoes 1 medium garlic clove, minced 1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed and pat dry to remove excess water1/2 cup chanterelle or baby portobello mushrooms,choppedFreshly ground black pepper and sea salt to tasteRice Papers To help hold them together:1/2 tbsp cornstarch 1 tbsp water Basil oil for dipping 2 cup of basil 1 cup olive oilSea salt to taste Directions: Preheat your oven to 425.In a sauté pan on medium heat add the olive oil. Add onions, peppers and garlic and sauté for about minutes or two until onions are a bit transparent. Add the remaining ingredients, seasoning to taste. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, until everything is heated through. Remember you will be baking these as well. Remove from stove and set aside. Prepare your rice paper for baking: 1 Place a single wrapper on a wet kitchen towel (cover the remaining wrappers with another kitchen towel so that they don’t dry). Arrange the wrapper in a diamond shape, place a bit of ingredients at the bottom. Stop when you reach half way, fold the right and left corner in so that the roll looks like an open envelope. Brush a bit of cornstarch mixture on the final corner and finish rolling. Place under a damp kitchen towel while you roll the rest. 2 Brush the rolls with a small amount of vegetable oil and place on a baking tray lined with a piece of baking parchment. 3 Bake for about 15 minutes on one side, then flip and bake for another 10-15 minutes on the other side, until the rolls are golden brown. Remove from the oven and enjoy with the basil oil or your favorite sauce.

Preparing Rice Paper wraps for deep frying. Use the same rolling process as you would for baking adding the ingredients in the rice paper and rolling according to previous instructions:To start the process of deep frying, all you need is a nice big wok or saucepan, a ladle or a pair of tongs and some oil.

Heat up a cup of oil on low heat in a wok or big sauce pan. When the oil starts to lightly smoke, it is ready for frying.

Using a ladle or a pair of tongs, gently immerse a spring roll into the hot oil. Be very gentle so that the oil does not splash on you.

After half a minute, turn the spring roll over gently. Fry for another half a minute, then put it to the side of the wok and let it continue frying. You need to do this before putting the next spring roll into the oil as the spring rolls may stick to each other before both sides have been fried for half a minute.

Fry the spring rolls until they are golden brown and crispy.

Remove from oil and place ice on a paper towel, to remove and excess oil and enjoy!

For basil oil: Add all ingredients in a blender and lightly pulse, until well blended, add more oil if you like a nice thin basil oil. Continue to 5 of 6 below.

I love my friends. I am even so grateful that God put some incredible women in my life. I have women that have been in my life for over 3 decades. They have celebrated life with me and some of my most tragic times. These ladies have loved me unconditionally. They understand me and allow me to just be Lisa, without depends. I am so grateful for that more than anything.

We all wrote a blessing on this card for her.

Yesterday I was able to throw a birthday brunch for one of those beautiful souls, Dee Armstead. I met Dee when we both were going through a very hard time in our lives, we both had lost our moms and we were there for each other. We kept each other afloat. She loves me for me, she builds me up and never tears me down. This is 14 year friendship and I can honestly say these words about her.

Dee is the fabulous one in the linen pants

Dee is a big giver. When I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said, Lisa I want to do something that will inspire and empower women. This is her gift, Dee inspires others, so I want this to be really special. So, I decided to do one of my Coming Home to You workshop brunches. I filled the whole entire brunch and exercises with positive affirmations, deep breathing technique , meditation and a lifestyle behavioral coaching exercise. The ladies were very inspired and the best part, my Dee was happy and pleased with the outcome.

God is amazing in how he works. There were many components in planning such a brunch, because it is not just about beautiful table settings and food, but helping people move passed the things that get in the way of connecting again themselves and what is next in there lives.

Follow your Dreams

Dee trust me, she never once asked me, what I was planning. This is how you now it is God, she closed it out with a speech of gratitude and gave each of her guest, a beautiful frame with the most inspiring words that went along side the workshop’s entire message. “Allow ALL life to move though you, let go of fear and embrace love.”

One of the best things I got a chance to teach my granddaughter how to Set the Table with Love. She pressed napkins, linens, we made floral arrangements, and made the prettiest table settings. We had a blast.

Coming Home to You Birthday Luncheon Homemade Floral Arrangement adds a special touch.

Thanks Dee for being one of my dearest friends and allowing your light to ignite my light within. Love you.

The menu was vegetarian. I wanted to share recipes with everyone that was simple, easy, delicious and healthy . The chai muffins were gluten free and one of my favorite recipes, we served the muffins with a simple ginger and cardamom butter.

The menu included:

Blueberry and Lemon scones with lemon sugar

Chai Muffins made by my bestie, Kristina Millsaps

Frittata Muffins with cheddar cheese and parmesan

Roasted Asparagus with parsley and parmesan

Roasted Potatoes with herbs and parmesan

Strawberry Basil Rosé Lemonade punch

Chocolate Oolong Tea

Coffee

Guests Favorite:

I want to share with you one of the recipes that was one the favorites. I will share the other recipes, including that incredible punch later this week. Enjoy this one.

Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients:

1 pound asparagus

A bunch of parsley leaves

Fine sea salt, ground black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Parmesan shavings

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400.

Trim away the bottom third of each asparagus stalk.

Put the asparagus on a cookie sheet with parchment paper, top with parsley. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Roast until slightly tender, about 10 -15 minutes. Just before serving, add shaved parmesan.

I am so excited about Mother’s Day! I hope you are thinking of ways to encourage the beautiful Mother’s in your life that has birth you physically, spiritually and both. I have a few recipes today I want to share with you that will make this Mother’s Day very special. It’s not too late and these recipes are super simple and Yum Yum approved. Enjoy them and make sure to Set the Table with Love. Happy Mother’s Day. 🙂

Italian Cheese Frittatas

Five Cheese Italian Muffin Frittatas

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tbsp. of olive oil ( 1 tbsp for greasing the
pan and the remainder for sautéing vegetables)

1 medium onion diced, medium

1 medium red bell pepper, diced
the same size as the onions

1 garlic clove, diced, small

8 large eggs

1 tsp of sea salt

1/2 tsp. of black pepper

1 tbsp. of Italian dried seasoning

4 ounces Sargento Five cheese blend,or your favorite blend

12 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half, to top frittatas

1 ounce of parmesan cheese to

garnish frittatas

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan with olive
oil, set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in a saute’ pan. Add diced onions, peppers, and
garlic. Cook until onions are transparent, not caramelized.
3.Whisk eggs, salt, black pepper, basil together in a bowl. Mix
cooked ( make sure they are cooled, are you will have scrambled eggs) vegetables and cheese into egg mixture. Spoon about 1/4
cup mixture into each muffin cup. You want the mixture to go
about halfway up the muffin pan cups.
4. Add 2 sliced cherry tomatoes on top of each frittata.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until frittatas are set in the middle
and lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
6. Once cooked you can garnish each one with parmesan cheese.
~ If you have an issue with diary, you can leave the cheese out or
use your favorite vegan blend.

Since this is Mother’s Day add some, fruit, a card and her favorite flower and your golden.

The weather has finally gotten cold in Georgia. I thought I was living in Santa Barbara, for a minute. The truth is, Georgia’s weather could be a little tricky. Cold one day and 78 degrees the next. But, as soon as it got cold. I was in my kitchen making this soup. Now this is a vegan version of the soup. I wanted something much cleaner, than all the heavy cream and butter I consumed over the holidays. The food was amazing and I love to eat good food and boy did I have my share. Okay, enough of my time of confession. Let’s get to the soup.

I used a roux, which is a cooked mixture of butter or other fat and flour to help thicken sauces, soups, etc. I used olive oil and flour for this soup. Cooking the flour, gives it a nice buttery and nutty flavor, so no need for the butter, and the flour thickens it as well.

I hope my vegan version, gets you to start thinking, especially in the New Year, you can set the butter and heavy cream a side, ever now and then.

Creamy Vegan Corn Soup

Ingredients:

Roux

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 1/2 tablespoons of flour, coconut flour

Corn Soup

2-3 tablespoon Olive oil

1/2 large white onion, chopped (~1 cup)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon red chili flakes

2 cups organic frozen corn

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

2 cups low sodium vegetable broth , low sodium

Garnish

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup frozen organic corn

1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced

Cilantro

Sea salt and black pepper , to taste

Directions:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat add the olive oil for the roux. Add a pinch of flour sprinkled into the oil, when it just begin to bubble. Then, whisk in 2-1/2 tablespoons of flour to form a thick paste. Continue whisking as the roux gently bubbles and cooks, for 2 minutes. Do not let the roux bubbles vigorously or it will burn. Stir constantly. Add the onions and garlic, stir and cook for another 2 minutes. Lower the heat just a bit. Add the red pepper flakes, stir. Next, Add the corn and all the spices, salt and pepper, to taste. Stir and allow to cook for 5 minutes. Add the vegetable broth and allow to cook for another 10 minutes on a medium heat, continue to stir as needed. Add more vegetable broth if needed. Do not allow it to dry out.

While the corn is cooking, add your oil for your garnish, in another sauce pan on medium heat, once the pan is heated, add the peppers and the corn. Allow the corn and peppers to cook, until they have caramelized on some of the pieces. Remove from the heat and set a side.

Once the corn is cooked for the soup, remove it from the heat and add the mixture in a blender, Ninja or Vitamix. A very strong blender will give you a very creamy soup. Add the mixture to the blender and process, until the soup is creamy and smooth. If the mixture is too thick , add more vegetable broth. The soup should be smooth,creamy, but not thick. If it is too thin, add more corn and blend.

Once the corn mixture is smooth, give it a taste and adjust the seasonings, add sea salt and black pepper at this time, if needed.

Remove the soup from the blender. Add it to a mesh stainer over a clean sauce pan. Strain the soup into the saucepan, use a spoon to press out all the liquid from the soup. Once all the soup is strained away from any remaining kernel. Place the sauce pan over medium heat. Stir and heat the soup up to your preference. Add the heated soup to a bowl. Add the garnish on top and Enjoy.

You can always skip the straining process, if you like a more rustic soup.

This dish was inspired by how beautiful I think french lentils are. I love cooking with them. The whole their texture very well and that make any dish look incredibly elegant. I have made soups, stews and salads using french lentils. I would like to share this grilled salad recipe I made over the summer. It was a true winner. Very light and loaded with vegan protein. I always looking for ways to incorporate more vegan protein in my families diet. I believe this one hit the mark. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Directions:
Place a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil. When hot, add chopped vegetables, and sauté until softened, 5 to 10 minutes. Add 6 cups water, lentils, thyme, garlic seasons, bay leaves and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium.
Simmer lentils until they are tender and have absorbed most of the water, for 20 to 25 minutes. Drain any excess water after lentils have cooked. Check the seasonings. Add more no salt garlic seasonings or salt, if needed. I usually add more of the garlic seasonings at the end to build the flavor of the dish, if needed.

I used my George Foreman grill. Heat up the grill and add oil to the grill. Remove the leaves from the head ( make sure they leaves are dry) and add salt to each leaf. Add the leaves to the grill and allow to cook for about 2 minutes, until they have a nice char on them. Remove from the grill and place on a platter. Take the lentils and add them on top of the leaves and garnish with the cherry tomatoes. Serve immediately.

I will make this blog, quick and sweet. But don’t get that twisted. The flavor will still be explosive. I will let the recipe do the talking. I have this recipe in an earlier blog, but I used butternut squash and regular sweet potatoes. I decided with this recipe to use purple sweet potatoes, instead. Boy, I could not wait for this soup to be done, for one reason only, outside of tasting it, the color. Purple soup! Yes! Purple soup.

Vegan Purple Sweet Potato Soup

Remember to Set the Table with Love.

Vegan Purple Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large sweet purple potato, peeled and small cubes

1/2 cup onions, peeled

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp thyme leaves

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 cup vegetable broth or more for consistency

1 tbsp maple syrup

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Coconut Maple Cream

1/2 cup canned coconut milk, you want the cream part of the milk. Refrigerating the coconut milk will make it more solid.

1 tsp maple syrup

Directions:

In large saucepan on medium heat, add the olive oil. Add purple sweet potatoes. Stir and cook for 10 minutes or more, until soften. Add onions and garlic. Stir and cook for 3 minutes. Add fennel, thyme and spices. Stir. Add vegetable broth. Turn up heat and allow to come to a boil. Turn off the heat and remove the pot and allow the soup to cool down, before adding to the Vitamix.

Prepare Coconut Maple Cream.

In a food processor add coconut cream, maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt. Process until smooth. Do not over process the coconut cream, where it liquifies. You want it to be smooth like a whipped cream. Place in a bowl and set in the fridge.

Once the soup has cooled down. Add the soup to your Vitamix or blender. Blend until smooth. Add the tbsp of maple syrup and blend. If the soup is too thick add a little more vegetable broth. Taste it for seasonings. Add more sea salt or pepper, to taste.

Add the soup back into a sauce pan to heat up. Heat the soup up on medium heat, while constantly stirring. Remove from heat. Serve immediately in your favorite soup bowl. Add the coconut maple cream in the middle of the soup and garnish with thyme leaves.

I love soup, but my best friend Kristina is a souper fan of it! Hee Hee. I made a funny, get it souper fan! Like I played on words. Oh okay… Back to the soup.

So I am on this soup kick, since it’s getting colder outside. Yesterday, I made a purple sweet potato soup. I will post that recipe later on today. It was creamy, buttery, spicy and delicious and it’s vegan! I wanted something, broth based today. I picked up my son’s cold and broth based soups are excellent for cleansing the body.

I added ginger in this recipe and it works very well. I topped the soup with a pistou. Pistou is the French version of Italian pesto, except it doesn’t have pine nuts in it. It made an excellent garnish for the carrot soup, it gave it some freshness. I also used lemon zest on top of the pistou, to break up the fat a little, from the olive oil. I hope you will enjoy this recipe, as much as I did today.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, cook onions. Stirring, 5 minutes, until soften. Add in carrots and garlic. Cook for 2 -3 minutes. Add in a pinch of sea salt, black pepper and garlic seasonings. Add in lentils and stir everything together. Cook for 3 minutes. Constantly stirring. Add in vegetable broth. Turn up the heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cover saucepan, allow to cook for 20- 30, minutes, until lentils are tender. Once cooked, remove from heat. Serve in bowls and top with pistou and lemon zest.

Prepare the Pistou. Blend or process garlic, olive oil and basil in small processor, until smooth. Season to taste with sea salt. Transfer into a small bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Serve over top the soup or spread on a baguette.

Who doesn’t love a good waffle. They are crunchy on the outside, moist and soft in the inside. We lather them with lots of butter and good Vermont Maple Syrup. I am bias about maple syrup. I believe the best syrup is made in Vermont and I am Georgia girl. But sometimes you want to expand your mind and come up with something a little different. Well, in this case, a lot different. I so enjoyed sitting in my kitchen and thinking of how I could make a waffle, savory. I looked in my fridge, pantry, and garden, because these are the places that inspire me to make innovative recipes, with what I have on hand.

I am not one to go out regularly and buy a ton of ingredients to make a dish. Use what you have, no waste, my mama always taught me. She could make a thanksgiving dinner from an egg, head of lettuce and loaf of bread. LOL! Hey , she was before her time, she would have blown the competition away on Food Network, Chopped.

Well, she was my hero in some many ways, especially in the kitchen. Okay, with that being said, I found leeks and potatoes in my kitchen and decided to make this potato and leek savory waffle. It was so delicious and it’s vegan, gluten free and I made a raw basil oil to dress it. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did.

Combine almond milk and vinegar in a small mixing bowl and let set for a few minutes to activate, it will get bubbly. Then add olive oil , maple syrup and whisk. Set aside.
Add dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk until well combined.
Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until well incorporated. Let set for 5-10 minutes, this will allow the, baking powder and vinegar mixture to activate even more. It will give you a very fluffy waffle. Heat up your waffle pan.

For the Potato and Leek mixture:

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium heat. Add in the small diced potatoes. Stir and allow them to cook until they are slightly golden brown and soften. Add the diced onions, red bell peppers and leeks. Stir. Allow them to cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the diced garlic cloves . Stir and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cool GENTLY fold the mixture into the waffle batter, leave about 1/4 cup of potato and leek mixture out, to use as a garnish, if you desire. IF NOT YOU CAN ADD THE WHOLE MIXTURE INTO THE BATTER.
Once waffle iron is hot and ready to go, generously coat with non-stick spray and pour on about 1/2 cup of batter. Cook according to manufacturer instructions and then remove and place on a baking rack in a 200 degree oven to keep warm. In order to keep them crispy , do not stack and instead keep them in a single layer.

Basil oil

Wash basil leaves. Squeeze out water and dry with paper towel.
Place basil, the oil and salt into a blender or food processor and puree.
Let it settle a little then pour into a glass container. Drizzle over your waffles.
Use immediately or refrigerate. Making this oil a day in advance, will intensify the flavor. Fridge shelf life ~ one week.

I am in love with #GoRaw Organic Sprouted Watermelon Seeds. I have snacked on the bag of seeds, made a big salad with them, a smoothie and yesterday I made Vegan RAW Nut Free Basil Pesto. Here’s the thing, a lot of us can not eat nuts. I love nuts, but sometimes we do not always get along. It’s all good though, we good people. LOL.

Today I would like to share this amazing appetizer, but you can spread this on some bread and there you go, a high protein sandwich. You can also wrap it in some butter lettuce and enjoy a nice lettuce wrap. The deal is you will love the diversity of this recipe, but better than that, is the fact, it’s loaded with nutrition and plant based protein.

To make pate base, in a food processor add the base ingredients, Except the lemon juice and water. Add the lemon juice first, 2 tbsp at a time. Look at the consistency, it should be a thick creamy based, but not watery. If it is too watery. Add more Watermelon seeds to your food processor and blend well.

Scoop the pate base into a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. If the pate is too thick, add a bit of water and stir. Season to taste.

Slice up cucumber circles about 1/4 – inch thick and the Raw Chick Pate on top of each slice and garnish with fresh parsley and a cherry tomato slice.